Carlos Miller is founder and publisher of Photography is Not a Crime, which began as a one-man blog in 2007 to document his trial after he was arrested for photographing police during a journalistic assignment.

He is also the author of The Citizen Journalist’s Photography Handbook, which can be purchased through Amazon.

Md. Attorney General's Office: police have no expectation of privacy in public

July 30, 2010

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The Maryland Attorney General’s Office issued an opinion stating that recording a police officer’s voice during a traffic stop does not violate the state’s wiretapping law.

This, of course, contradicts the opinion of Harford County State Attorney Joseph Cassilly, who insists on prosecuting Anthony Graber to the fullest extent.

Graber, the National Guardsman who was arrested for uploading a video of a cop who pulled out a gun on him on a traffic stop earlier this year, is facing 16 years in prison because the video included the voice of Maryland State Trooper Joseph Uhler.

But the 11-page opinion is just that, an opinion. It has no legal bearing on Graber’s case.

Although one would think it should serve as an influence on Cassilly, who has been criticized by major national newspapers for pursuing the charges against Graber.

Even a colleague from another county, St. Mary’s County State Attorney Richard Fritz, does not believe that videotaping a police officer in public, including recording his voice, is illegal.

The A.G.’s opinion states that a conversation between and officer and a citizen in public is not a “private conversation,” so it should not be covered under the state’s wiretapping law.